Posts by boldharbor14

I just received a formal demand letter from a law firm based out of Washington, D.C., warning me about an impending enforcement proceeding.
Basically, this firm is representing an LLC that I owe a small amount of money to.
They’re demanding that I settle the principal balance—which I’m not disputing—along with the "cost" of the legal demand letter itself.
The kicker is that the fee they're charging for this little notice is more than double the actual debt! So, I'm wondering, given
that the consumer protection act states that these types of notices shouldn't be charged to consumers, am I actually legally obligated to pay these demand letter fees?
If I'm not, what kind of steps should people who have already been hit with these ridiculous charges take?
Should I be filing a complaint against this law firm with the FTC, or would a report to the American Bar Association be more appropriate?
Thanks for any insight.

Emily Davis61 said:My bad, forgot to mention the quote above is for boldharbor14. Cheers!

I officially submitted my written statement to the court today, laying out every single detail of how everything went down. It’s honestly ridiculous; how can they be sitting there, 700 yards away from where I actually crossed the intersection, and claim they know whether I hit a red light or a green one? It seems like the whole issue stems from the side plates on my vehicle, which I assume is the real reason they pulled me over and slapped me with this fine in the first place.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I’m looking for some legal perspective regarding a red light violation. Here is how the whole thing went down.
I was driving through an area with active construction, where they had set up those temporary traffic lights to manage the flow. I drove through the construction zone, and as I was exiting on the other side—where there’s another signal—the police pulled me over, claiming I ran a RED light. How on earth can they claim I blew through a red light when they were stationed at the exit point of the work zone? It seems like they just assumed I did it because the light on their end turned green while I was still technically within the construction site. There were plenty of variables: I could have kept moving, maybe workers were crossing the lane, or the road surface itself was just terrible. Plus, these portable signals aren't exactly synchronized; they don't always talk to each other. And honestly, if some untrained construction worker was the one who set the timing, how can they be so certain? They simply didn't SEE what happened.
I filed an appeal, and now I’ve received a summons for a formal hearing. Unfortunately, I can't make it on that date because I'll be away in Washington, D.C. The notice says I have the option to submit my defense in writing.
Is it even worth fighting this? In my view, the court should toss this citation out entirely because the whole case is built on pure guesswork. They didn't actually witness the infraction; they are just assuming I ran the light. To make matters worse, there was a massive semi-truck crawling along right in front of me, which completely blocked any clear line of sight.